In one approach to managing an electronic signature process, a document is emailed or otherwise transferred to a user (a “signer”) who engages in a signature process with respect to the document. Upon receipt, the signer signs the document, after which data from the signed document is transferred to a server or other location for storage.
The above-described approach suffers from a number of drawbacks. First, common implementations of this approach typically require specialized software, such as Portable Document Format (“PDF”) processing software. Moreover, the PDF processing software often needs to be specially configured to facilitate the signature process. Second, PDF and its related processing software may suffer from security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious parties for various purposes, thereby rendering the signature process unreliable. Third, such an approach typically statically defines the document for signature such that the document cannot easily be modified in light of newly received information, particularly when the document has been previously sent to the signer.